1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clock for automatically displaying the time of day, the date of the year, the position of the earth in the Zodiac, the approximate hours of daytime and nighttime, approximate times of sunrise and sunset, and the position of the sun, at least one planet and the moon and phases of the moon with respect to the earth.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Clocks that display the phases of the earth's moon are well known to those skilled in the art. Such clocks are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 245,130; 508,467; 1,126,214; 1,997,511 and 3,721,083. Such clocks employ a stationary mask that shields appropriate portions of a pictorial representation of the moon from view so that the representation of the moon is obscured to simulate actual phases of the moon. Such displays typically employ a rotating moon wheel having two illustrations of the moon 180.degree. apart on the moon wheel. The moon wheel makes one complete revolution in two lunar months, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 508,467; 1,126,214 and 3,721,083. Alternatively, a moon wheel having one illustration of the moon that makes one complete revolution every lunar month may be designed to display the phases of the moon, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 245,130 and 1,997,511. Such displays of the phases of the moon, however, do not illustrate the position of the moon relative to the earth.
Devices disclosing celestial data in addition to the time of day are also well known to those skilled in the art. Such devices include, for example, a tellurium employing a sun-centered model displaying movement of the earth and the earth's moon relative to the sun. Such a model is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 402,005, which also indicates the sign of the Zodiac in which the earth is located at any given moment, the month, the date, and the season of the year. Such devices, however, do not illustrate the movements of the planets with respect to the earth in a geocentric model.
Geocentric astronomical charts are also well known to those skilled in the art. Typically, such charts include a plurality of small holes for accepting and retaining manually placed pegs carrying bodies representative of bodies of the earth's solar system. Such a geocentric astronomical chart having a conventional clock dial at its center is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 521,725. Such devices, however, do not automatically indicate the position of celestial bodies of the earth's solar system with respect to the earth.
A significant need therefore exists for a celestial clock that automatically indicates the position of the sun, one or more planets, the moon and phases of the moon, all with respect to the earth in a geocentric system, and other useful data.